SPJIMR launches new Centre for Financial Studies

KOLKATA: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s SPJIMR has set up a Centre for Financial Studies (CFS) to focus on research in finance and to help bridge the gap between industry and academia in a sector that is at the core of India’s growth story.

The new centre will offer a platform where academic experts, finance professionals and policy makers can work together. The five areas that CFS has mandated itself to work on are accounting, governance & risk, financial inclusion, fintech and policy & regulation.

The CFS has been set up at a time when Indian policy makers are pushing to increase investments, build infrastructure and become more business friendly.

The CFS was formally launched on Oct. 10 at a function attended among others by, Mr Deepak Parekh, Chairman, HDFC and Chairman of the Governing Council of SPJIMR; Ms Arundhati Bhattacharya , Former Chairperson, SBI; Mr Samiran Chakraborty, MD Chief Economist, Citibank; Mr Nimesh Shah, Managing Director & CEO, ICICI Prudential AMC; Mr Ketan Dalal, Managing Partner, Katalyst Advisors LLP; Mr Alok Kshirsagar, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company; Prof. Ananth Narayan, Associate Professor, Finance, SPJIMR; Prof. Harsh Vardhan, Executive in Residence, SPJIMR and Ms Latha Venkatesh, Banking Editor, CNBC TV18.

The CFS is headed by Prof Neeraj Swaroop, former Regional CEO of Standard Chartered Bank and now a Professor of Finance at SPJIMR.

“The launch of a Centre for Financial Studies in Mumbai by SPJIMR is a very welcome step. It will benefit the business community as a whole and finance professionals in particular, and will enable them to engage with academics on current and futuristic issues. We hope to make full use of this Centre to encourage exchange of ideas and knowledge between various stakeholders in the wider finance community, including regulators and policy makers,” said Deepak Parekh, Chairman, HDFC and Chairman of the Governing Council of SPJIMR in a statement.

SPJIMR Dean Dr Ranjan Banerjee said: “The financial sector is dynamic, competitive and complex. Rigorous practice-oriented research and executive education is a felt need from senior practitioners, and this Centre will influence practice by filling this gap.”

Specifically, SPJIMR’s Centre for Financial Studies aims to:
1) Undertake research projects that have relevance for the industry and for policy making.
2) Create a community of practitioners, trained in financial services matters, through high-quality training and executive education modules.
3) Partner with industry to address practice related challenges through consultancy engagements.

The CFS is SPJIMR’s first external facing platform in the area of finance, which is one of the core specialisations offered to students of management at the institute.